NAICOM to blacklist auditors for connivance

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) may blacklist auditing firms that collude with insurance firms by passing incorrect financial statements despite clarity on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

NAICOM Director of Supervision, Mr Nicholas Okpara gave this hint in Ilorin, disclosed that the comission would maintain a black book where the names of auditors who consistently fail to leave up to their responsibilities would be entered.

He said once this is done, the auditor will be barred from auditing financial statements insurance companies.

He said: “We are working to blacklist auditing firms who have consistently endorsed false accounts.

“It is already on the table and I think it is the right way to go because the financial statement of a company is a joint responsibility by the board and management of that company.

“The auditor that provides the quality assurance and to the extent the auditor will certify the account is more or less taking responsibility that the account contains no error and it is the true and fair view of the financial position of the company.”

He wonderd why an audited account should contain errors if the auditor had done his work diligently and professionally.

“Why should an audited account reveal such errors that are false and full of error,”he asked rhetorically.

The director said it was disturbing that some auditors of some insurance companies who ought to have discovered if there was an error and display professional roles usually shirk away from their responsibilities.

He said: “If the auditor has exercised the required due diligence and care in carrying out his work to the extent that the account still show some errors in different forms including misstatement of figures, this means that the auditor has failed to do his job, and such auditor should be sanctioned.